For the next six weeks, A Play, A Pie, and A Pint, in conjunction with the National Theatre of Scotland, will be showcasing new works from Arab writers as part of its One Day In Spring mini-season.
Emotive dispatches from the front line of the Arab Spring, the season, curated by David Greig, kicks off this week with Can You Please Look At The Camera by Mohammed Al Attar, from Damascus. It focuses on a young woman making a covert documentary in an office block, recording the testimonies of released detainees during the Syrian revolution – although no specific country is ever mentioned.
As such, the piece – ably performed by Umar Ahemd, Alia Alzougbi, Lucy Hollis and Gerry McGlaughlin – could stand for any of the deprivations and horrors (both physical and psychological) imprisoned protesters are subjected to under oppressive regimes. Which may explain why it feels overly familiar in terms of verbatim-reportage style, and the picture painted of the fallout that comes with struggle for change.
While the wave of protests that swept across the Arab world last year saw the overthrow of oppressive regimes such Egypt and Libya, Syria's year-long conflict is ongoing, with the latest chapter in President Assad's determination to hold on to power the fragile ceasefire brokered by Kofi Annan as part of his six-part peace plan.
What the end game in Syria will be is anyone's guess. Until then it's important that playwrights such as Al Attar are allowed a voice to pay testimony to what has gone on so far.
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